Before coming to Oberlin, my research
focused on the development of Holocene coral reefs using various submersible
coring systems - most recently, the SCARID corin g unit depicted to the
right. This work continues at Oberlin in an effort to put the research
program back on track that was derailed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and
the closure of West Indies Laboratory in 1991.

The cumulative record made available
by coring investigations all around the Caribbean has revealed two 800-1000
year intervals in which A. palmata declined severely throughout
the region. Efforts continue to better delineate these events and to consider
how they might be used to understand natural changes in community structure
in the recent geologic past, and how this might relate to changes we have
witnessed in recent years.

The community structure found in the geologic
record is incomplete and biased. Nevertheless, the post-mortem changes
that occur in corals can still tell us a lot about the processes that
occurred in these environments if we look closely. Our efforts are following
two paths. The first examines post-mortem encrustation and bioerosion
of A. palmata and how it might be used to identify coral disease
and bleaching in fossil communities. The other (described below) examines
coral preservation in a spectacularly exposed Holocene reef in the western
Dominican Republic.

Two expeditions to Rapa Nui in
1998 and 1998 examined the community structure around the island in anticipation
of its nomination as the first World Heritage site. The area had hitherto
been described as largely devoid of corals. Our studies showed this to
be largely false, and revealed a reef system that breaks most of our rules
about coral-reef development.

Spectacular Holecene reefs are exposed in the
Enriquillo Valley of the western Dominican Republic. The reefs formed
in an embayment 10,000 years and were subsequently exposed when rapid
sedimantation sealed off the bay entrance, and water evaporated. Today,
the outcrops provide a unique opportunity to view largely in-place reefs
that sit between 0 and 40 meters below sea-level.